On 25 March 2013 14:36, Jim Lux <[email protected]> wrote: > On 3/25/13 7:17 AM, David Kirkby wrote:
>> The TCXO oscillator is off the board and a separate item, but costs >> £40 and then one ideally wants to lock that to a more precise source. >> The oscillator will lock to an external 10 MHz source, but then one >> needs to buy both a 10 MHz rubidium as well as this 40 MHz TCXO. Hence >> I was wondering if there was a cheaper more compact solution, which >> just used a rubidium, and dispensed with a TCXO. >> > > The "two box" solution (10MHz ref + 40 MHz synth,e.g. the SRF040R0L) might > be best. A 10 MHz source is more generally useful. > > What you really want is a x4 from 10 MHz, *if* your Rb is clean. Some sort > of pair of doublers or quadrupler might be the ticket. (If the Xband > converter has a moderately narrow filter on the 40 MHz input, that might be > pretty easy.. make harmonics, just pick the right one) > > Some Rb sources aren't particularly clean, and the external device serves > as a "clean up loop" for things outside the loop bandwidth. > > Have you asked the mfr if they can work at 10 MHz input? It might have some > sort of programmable device inside, and he chose 40 because it's what he > had. What's inside the box, in other words? I think 40 MHz was deliberately chosen. The manual http://www.chris-bartram.co.uk/SRF040R0L.pdf (all manuals at http://www.chris-bartram.co.uk/manuals.html ) state "Modern synthesisers work best with a relatively high frequency reference source." so I think the choice of 40 MHz was deliberate rather than the case of he had the bits around for that. I've been looking at the possibility of my local amateur radio club getting on 10 GHz. That is the cheapest solution I'm aware of sold commercially. Though I'm beginning to think that by the time you add a pre-amp and power amp, a more expensive transverter is actually better value. The noise figure of the cheaper unit is 13 dB and the output level -10 dBm. There are other units for about twice the price http://www.kuhne-electronic.de/en/products/transverter/mku-10-g3.html which have a noise figure of 1.3 dB and a power output of +23 dBm. They too can lock to 10 MHz external references. Dave _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
